Instant Elegance: Touches That Will Add Class To Your Home


This time of year, you might be looking around your home with a little exasperation. We all dream of sleek, minimalist homes, full of elegant, classic touches and effortlessly beautiful pieces, but in December, they’re covered in red and gold decorations and pine needles instead! During the festive period, this is obviously absolutely okay. But you might be formulating some ideas on how to make your home perfect from January onwards. Here are some tips that might help.

Decluttering
When Christmas is over, start to systematically remove all the clutter from your home. If you have kids, it’s time to insist that they cart all their new Christmas gifts up to the room, and you should also make sure that you’ve recycled all your used wrapping paper and your Christmas cards. Once you’ve cleared away all the Christmas debris, it’s time to tackle the usual mess that’s in your home. Sort things into different piles – items to be kept, thrown away, and donated. Once they’re all in their rightful places, put a neat basket in each room so you can throw clutter in there and sort it out at the end of the week instead of letting it mess up all your surfaces.

Minimalist Touches
Remember, less is more. Coco Chanel herself said that before you leave the house, you should look in the mirror and take off one accessory. That same logic can also be applied to your home. It’s much better to have one incredible piece than five mediocre ones. If you love art, choose one piece as the focal point of each room, and arrange your furniture around it, rather than trying to squeeze in as much art as possible. Your furniture should complement your art and be part of it, rather than detracting from it.

Antique Pieces
If you fancy yourself good at picking out old pieces, then go for some antiques. A well placed antique desk that’s in good condition can up the elegant factor of a room by tenfold. Antique lighting can also look incredible – just make sure that you get it checked over by an electrician to ensure that it’s in good condition before you use it, in case of fire hazards. If there are specific pieces that you’re looking for, get talking to your local antiques dealers in case they hear about what you want for your home. Remember to let pieces like that speak for themselves – you don’t want them to be overwhelmed by the rest of the room. As we said before – less is more.

Neutral Colours
If you use neutral colours throughout your home, then you’ll be able to change it considerably more easily when you want to, by swapping different pieces of furniture from room to room and adding splashes of colour wherever you want. Although magnolia used to be the neutral colour of choice, these days you should go for pale grey or off white as magnolia looks very dated! Browns, slate grey and cream will always be classic shades that will never go out of style.